devocalise
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- Linguistics: "devocalise" means to render a speech sound voiceless; to change a normally voiced sound into a voiceless one. This occurs when the vocal cords stop vibrating during articulation.
Usage Examples
- (In linguistics, this refers to removing voicing from a consonant.)
- (The researcher examined the process of making vowels voiceless.)
Advanced Usage
- "to devocalise a phoneme": to systematically alter a sound so that it is produced without vocal cord vibration.
- In rapid speech, some speakers devocalise the /z/ in "is" when it precedes a voiceless consonant. (They pronounce it as /s/ instead.)
Variants and Related Words
- Devocalization (noun): the process or result of making a sound voiceless.
- Devocalization of final consonants is common in many languages. (The phenomenon of losing voicing at the end of words.)
- Devocalize (verb): alternative spelling of devocalise (used primarily in American English).
- The linguist noted that the phoneme tends to devocalize in certain environments. (It becomes voiceless.)
Synonyms
- Devoice: to make a speech sound voiceless; the more common term in modern phonetics.
- The consonant was devoiced in the final position. (It lost its vocal cord vibration.)
- Unvoice: to remove voicing from a sound (less common).
- Unvoicing occurs in many Germanic languages. (The process of making a sound voiceless.)
Related Idioms
- — "devocalise" is a technical term primarily used in linguistics and phonetics, and it does not appear in common idioms or figurative expressions.